Discussion Question #3 (Ch11)

3). Pick one concept from either text, not already discussed, that you found useful or interesting and discuss it.

For this discussion question, I found the part in the Group Communication text about Practicing Mentoring to be interesting. I have always believed that a new employee can learn best from a person who has "been there" before. The new employee has a certain trust with someone who has been in his or her shoes before. I also like how they point out the fact that the mentor has a benefit too; it shows the company he or she has been workin for just how much has been learned and how valueable he or she now is to the company. I have never thought about being a mentor as going through steps, but the book explains it clearly. First, the mentor and new employee go through an initiation stage, followed by cultivation, seperation, and redefinition. I found redefinition to be the most interesting because it labels how a mentor and new employee eventually regard eachother as equals in the company, (unless one is promoted). This section in the book showed me how good it can be for a mentor and a new employee to have this type of relationship.